02/09/2023
Well it's a whole Wednesday past since I started... I suppose it's time to finally post. So, I did start the Appalachian Trail last Wednesday. Started from the lodge, got all the way to Springer Mountain Shelter. Now that being said me being a paranoid individual,there are multiple things that I could calculate solutions to if I did something wrong. Gear too heavy, too cold at night, too wore out, all things that can be adjusted for. One that wasn't so much a surprise rather than a miscalculation was that I have a stricture in my urethra. Had it for years. Something I'm supposed to manually keep open but I've neglected for some time. Something where if I keep doing so, it'll build up so much scar tissue it'll close over and no more urine, kidneys back up, kidneys shut down, then everything that follows. It has closed once before. Terrifying experience. Well, while hiking it was getting harder to pass urine than normal, something to which I thought I could get away with for the trip got instantly bad. So, that night I had to make the hard choice of do I want to be prideful, keep going and chance this to be an emergency rescue situation or do I swallow my pride and just get off right there and then? Pride be damned. I left the next morning. The only person at the camp was this guy John, a 42 disabled homeless vet with really nothing left going for him so he was hiking the trail. He was I'll equipped with heavy Walmart stuff, so, that morning I gave him nearly everything I had. Traded for his Walmart backpack then left for the Springer Mountain Parking lot to catch a ride to Gainesville to catch a bus. Had a day wait for it though. Ordered Pizza Hut, got terrible food poisoning. Threw up for 14 hours, kinda slept the day in between all of that away, slept most of my time on the bus, got home to Florida and have been trying to recover. I think finally my insides have stability again. Now working on getting my energy back and rehydrating all of the water I've lost in a weeks time.
And there you have it. That was my exciting week. I'll have to put this journey off another year but I've learned a lot in that day out. Beware of Georgia. It'll try to kill you. Sorry if you were excited but save it for next year. Sorry to all those I was planning of joining up with and doing a leg or just saying hi.... Let's try for it again next year. I do have footage from day 1 if anyone wants to watch it just to see how it went.
